How to Achieve a State of Total Concentration

Four tips to find your flow and stay focused longer.

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Think of an activity you enjoy that completely immerses you. When
you're doing it, your attention is fully focused, and you
are so absorbed that you lose track of time. You feel free and
effortless. That state of total concentration is called "flow,"
and the people who love their jobs experience it often while
they're working.

"It's what keeps you going," says Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the
leading researcher on flow states, a professor of psychology and
management at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, Calif.,
and author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal
Experience (Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2008).
"Flow creates an experience that is so exciting and so
stimulating that you would do [the activity] even if you
didn't get paid."

Entrepreneurs are especially likely to experience flow at work
because they have the freedom to choose their own challenges.
"The ability to take risks
in a calculated way helps create the dynamic that makes
entrepreneurial activities flow-producing," Csikszentmihalyi
says.

To experience flow and stay focused on a regular basis, try these
four tips:

1. Choose challenges that fit your skills.
To experience flow, your skill level needs to be sufficient to
tackle the challenge with confidence. "If there is a good balance
between the challenge and the skills, then you start feeling
flow," Csikszentmihalyi says. If the challenge overwhelms your
skill, you’ll be anxious, but if it underwhelms, you’ll be
bored.

As you work, notice when your skill-challenge match is out of
balance. If you find yourself anxious, then work on improving
your skills. If you're bored, then increase the challenge. "Every
activity will take hundreds of these adjustments,"
Csikszentmihalyi says. Staying attuned to these imbalances will
help you adapt and reenter flow.

2. Know the steps to reach your goals.
Full immersion in any task can only happen when you know how to
accomplish it. You need to have some idea about how to get from
point A to point B. "That constant awareness of what is next is
what keeps you focused," Csikszentmihalyi says. "That's where the
engagement comes from."

Much of entrepreneurship is new or unfamiliar, so at the
beginning of a new project or task, make yourself a roadmap. Talk
to a mentor or peer about how they would proceed, especially if
you're at a loss. You may go down several dead ends, but having a
path to try is all you need to experience flow.

3. Set aside distraction-free time.
Flow can only happen when you are uninterrupted. Open office
spaces or constant email notices prevent complete focus, so give
yourself the time and space to really get in the zone. Close your
email, turn off your phone, find a quiet space, and signal to
others not to interrupt you.

For example, John Reed, the former CEO of Citigroup, kept his
office door closed from 7am to 10am every day, refusing to take
any calls or visits until he opened his door. You might adopt a
similar strategy, set aside one day a week, or work from home
sometimes. Just find a system that works for you. "Otherwise,
you're like a marionette that’s being pulled by strings,"
Csikszentmihalyi says. "You have to cut the strings to feel good
or produce any flow."

4. Get feedback on your work.
To build your skills enough to achieve flow, you need to know if
what you did was right or wrong. "You have to know how well
you’re doing," Csikszentmihalyi says. That feedback empowers you
to improve so that you can find your flow -- a state that only
occurs after you've mastered the learning curve.

Initially, you get that feedback from your boss or an older
colleague, but as you become more expert, you learn to give
yourself that feedback autonomously. If you are your own boss (as
most entrepreneurs are), then look to peers or mentors for honest
feedback about your work. That constant drive to improve will
make flow a regular part of your work life.